Investigating the Hydrodynamics of Packed Bed Reactors by Application of Sphere Packing Algorithms

Simulating packed beds in detail using CFD technique has obtained much more attention in the recent years. Detailed simulation provides a better understanding of transport phenomena and local information in packed-bed reactors. The first step of these studies is to create their complex geometry. Various algorithms have been proposed for generating such geometries in 60 years. This study reviews common algorithms which are employed to generate sphere particles in cylindrical containers. A packed-bed is also generated and simulated. COMSOL Multiphysics was used for detailed simulation of flow behavior in a 110-sphere random packed bed. This simulation was carried out in laminar flow regime at steady state. The pressure drop calculated in simulation was in satisfaction with Carman-Kozenyequation. Reducing the diameter of spheres from 0.5 to 0.49 caused 8.2% error in pressure drop.

Keywords:

Randomly packed bed , CFD , Packing algorithm